ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. (January 6, 2011) - The Anniston Chemical Disposal Facility (ANCDF) concluded its mustard-filled mortar disposal campaign yesterday. With the end of the mortar campaign comes a two-three week pause in disposal operations as the work force methodically conducts a series of changeover activities to prepare to demilitarize Anniston's stockpile of mustard-filled 155mm projectiles.
Managers point out a relatively small number of mortars will not be processed in the ANCDF. The leftover mortars, which cannot be readily processed by the automated equipment in the ANCDF, are scheduled to be disposed of at the Static Detonation Chamber. The SDC was purchased, delivered, and assembled last year. It is being tested according to Alabama environmental permit requirements prior to it being put into service to handle Anniston's leftover mustard munitions.
Changeover activities two years ago came after the last nerve agent-filled munitions were processed on Christmas Eve 2008. With the ANCDF properly set and the work force trained and prepared, the first 32 mustard agent-filled 4.2-inch mortars were demilitarized on July 6, 2009. Since then, 258,300 mortars have been safely processed within the ANCDF. Less than 14 percent of Anniston's mustard agent stockpile remains to be demilitarized.
The next disposal campaign at the ANCDF is expected to begin later this month. Demilitarization operations will resume when the changeover activities have been completed and Anniston Chemical Activity (ANCA) employees have delivered the first 155mm projectiles. Each 155mm artillery shell weighs approximately 100 pounds and contains about seven quarts of mustard agent.
Besides 155mm projectiles, the Anniston chemical munitions stockpile still includes 105mm projectiles and large ton containers, which hold approximately 170 gallons of mustard agent. Based upon current processing rates, Anniston managers believe the local chemical munitions stockpile will be completely demilitarized by this summer.
"Since August of 2003," Timothy K. Garrett, ANCDF government site project manager, said, "our professional and well-trained team has safely reduced the Anniston stockpile by almost 94 percent. I am confident we will be just as safe down the home stretch."
Safe demilitarization of the Anniston chemical munitions stockpile began in August 2003. During the past seven and a half years, ANCDF operators demilitarized all 361,802 nerve agent munitions and 258,300 mustard agent munitions. To date, 93.7 percent of the munitions have been eliminated from Anniston's stockpile.
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